Chevron’s CEO Is Confounding Oil Market’s Slump
This year’s market comeback turns Mike Wirth’s focus to legacy projects.
Mike Wirth, chief executive officer of Chevron Corp.,
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergA year ago, Wall Street whispers were that Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth’s job was on the line. After a series of setbacks, Wirth admitted he had dropped the ball but promised a comeback. The stock market response was lukewarm. But seeing is believing; now, it's clear he has delivered.
Weeks before he turns 65, Wirth is now setting his eyes on legacy projects — above all, a major restructuring of America’s second-largest oil company to sharpen its focus on costs and shareholder returns.
“We did everything we said we were going to do,” Wirth tells me in an hour-long interview, enumerating the launch of a make-or-break project in Kazakhstan, winning a $60 billion legal battle with Exxon Mobil Corp. and reaching a key production threshold in the Permian basin.